There will always come a time for most of us when we need to tighten the purse strings and try to cut down or at least limit our monthly spends. We often write off some aspects of our monthly bills as a ‘given‘ or something that we simply have to pay for but this doesn’t always have to be the way. There are many ways in which you can cut down the cost of your monthly outgoings and today we are going to take a look at just how you can cut down on the bills, so that you have more to spend elsewhere.

List and Plan

The first thing to do is to sit down and start making a list of all of the services which you use, consider gas, electric, water, phone, mobile contracts, broadband costs and any other service which you are provided with.

Check Terms

The next step is to check the terms of each contract, you can usually find these online if you have mislaid yours. What you are looking for here is any terms of conditions which say that you are locked in to the contract for a certain amount of time. Should this be the case then lay the contract to one side but ensure that you are reminded of its date of renewal when the time comes.

Search Better Prices

Assuming that you are able to get out of your contract early and switch providers, now is the time to look for better prices on your current services. For example, if you have a car which is up for renewal, you could look on websites like Chill Insurance which compare various insurance providers so that you can get the best price. Equally you can scour the internet to find out if there are better prices on your other services.

Make The Call

Most service providers will have a deal or two in their pocket that they could offer a potential leaver. For this reason you should first ring your current provider and tell them that you have found a better deal and that you are taking your business elsewhere. More often than not they will offer you a similar price or deal, at which point you should probably accept, providing that you are happy with the service, this saves a lot of effort. If you are not offered a good enough deal then take your business elsewhere and you will be able to start saving money in no time at all.

Re-Negotiate

If you are trying to reduce the cost of a personal loan or a mortgage, you are going to need to go and speak directly about it with the manager of the bank or loan company and seek to renegotiate your deal. Situations change in a short amount of time and you may be in a far better financial position, for this reason you have more chance of being able to get yourself a better monthly price on your agreements.

Don’t just accept that you must pay a lot of money each month, monthly bills do need to be paid, but not at such a high price.